Archive for the 'Dustin Penner' Tag Under 'Ducks' Category

Monday was a fairly neutral day for the Ducks, if you don't count the fact that they're going to have to deal with Dustin Penner in a Kings' uniform three more times.

Minnesota and the Kings failed to gain ground on Anaheim. But Tuesday brings much more potential for slippage, and then the Ducks have to deal with Detroit, which looked like the Harlem Globetrotters on ice as they blasted the Kings Monday.

The Ducks are alone in 11th with 71 points. Minnesota and Nashville are 9th and 10th with 72. Dallas also has 72, in eighth. Calgary is seventh with 73, and Chicago and L.A. are fifth and sixth with 74.

The Ducks are seven points out of the Pacific Division lead, currently held by the Sharks with 78.

Sorry for the delay in the rundown as the morning was largely dominated by the latest with Ryan Getzlaf's sprained left ankle and his availability for the Ducks this weekend and Team Canada next week in the Winter Olympics.

The Edmonton Oilers are having a miserable season and it looks like they are trying to play their way into the best shot at the No. 1 overall pick in the June draft where they could be looking at choosing between Taylor Hall, Tyler Seguin and Cam Fowler to begin the rebuilding process.

Amazingly, the Oilers started the season 6-2-1. Even though they stumbled about for a month, a five-game winning streak left them with a respectable 15-13-4 record.

The well has been dry since. Edmonton has won mycoplasmas.orggetridofstretch.net just three times since that winning streak ended on Dec. 15, a span of 26 games. It hasn't helped that the Oilers have 331 man-games lost because of injury and are currently without three of their better players -- winger Ales Hemsky, center Sam Gagner and defenseman Sheldon Souray.

Edmonton and Dustin Penner have not been an ideal fit for the better of the two seasons that Penner has spent with the Oilers.

The former Ducks wing has been benched twice this season, and Edmonton coach Craig MacTavish has cited a lack of work ethic, fitness and consistency.

That was not evident on Friday night, though, as Penner scored two goals on four shots and was a plus-2 in just over 12 minutes of ice time. He even induced former linemate Ryan Getzlaf into a cross-checking penalty late in the second period.

Penner, who signed a five-year, $21.25 million offer sheet in the summer of 2007, months after he helped the Ducks win the Stanley Cup, has mostly been an underachieving fourth line player this season.

Brian Burke is no longer general manager of the Ducks, and Kevin Lowe is no longer general manager of the Edmonton Oilers, but their feud lives on, thanks to Dustin Penner.

The Edmonton Sun reports that Penner, a former Ducks left wing, will be a healthy scratch for a second consecutive game Monday night, when the Oilers visit the Detroit Red Wings. It seems that Edmonton coach Craig MacTavish has had it up to here with Penner's lack of fitness and work ethic, and isn't shy about relating those feelings.

Lowe, who has since been promoted to Oilers team president, lured Penner to Edmonton with a five-year, $21.25 million offer sheet in 2007, shortly after Penner and the Ducks had won the Stanley Cup championship. Burke, who stepped down as Ducks general manager last week in order to pursue other opportunities, declined to match the rich offer to Penner by the Oilers and decried Lowe's move for artificially inflating NHL salaries.

With Burke firing most of the salvos, he and Lowe engaged in a lengthy war of words until NHL commissioner Gary Bettman ordered the two to cease last summer.